Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Moving Forward

No, this is not a post in regards to Julia Gillards favourite campaign slogan.*
Rather this is me venting frusturation on behalf of little Flynn and myself. See, my little man has never really enjoyed tummy-time - he downright hated it for a while there - but for the last two or three weeks he has regularly been launching himself onto his belly from a seated position. There he'll lie, on his stomach, legs and arms a-flailing, getting frusturated by the second because, as of yet, he can;t do much else. He can straighten his arms and push up, and he can get his bum up in the air and onto his knees....just not at the same time. I suppose its annoying for him that he can get some little stuff happening but he cant move anywhere. And that is becoming frusturating for me. Why? Because this is the face i'm seeing all throughout the day:

This face and a sad, angry, little moan ( or cry ) which i take to mean " I hate this Mum! I can't go anywhere! Can't you just come pick me up and cuddle me ? " You know, which i'm trying not to do: i'm trying to encourage him to crawl by leaving him there to cry a little, by lying down in front of him and holding my hands out, by putting a toy in front of him that will grab his attention. Nothings working yet. Or rather, nothing is making him go forward - in the past week Flynn's been able to do this little " worm " like thing but only appears to be moving him backwards - which frusturates him more, because he squirms back and back and back until he runs into furniture or a toy or something and gets stuck. I guess i'm wondering - is this normal at 7 and half months?

I've been doing a little research that says most babies start crawling between 6 and 10 months, so its not like Flynn's running late in the crawling department; however, it also says that they'll start crawling soon after learning to sit on their own, and Flynn had that down pat pretty early. He was sitting straight and unsupported at 5 months, so i was assuming that the next milestone would come a little early too. And to even further confuse me - apparently after crawling babies will start to pull themselves up on things. AFTER. Flynn apparently didnt get that memo - if i hold my hands out he'll grab them and pull himself up to standing ( he's been able to do this for a while ) and in the last week and a bit he's started pulling himself up on furniture. He's even started taking small steps towards me after he's pulled himself up, if i leave my hands outstretched. So whats up with that? Could that be a sign my little dude is going to skip crawling all together and just go straight to cruising along the furniture, and then taking those first, awkward, solo steps?

I don't know if i should be concerned, all i do know for sure is that this little fella of mine has me mighty confused about where he's at and where he's going too. Any tips? Anyone with experience similar to this? And is there anyone willing to tell me i'm fussing over nothing and i should just enjoy his immobility before he gets his little self a-moving and starts raiding my kitchen cupboards?

AND JUST A QUICK NOTE: Thanks to Lori at Random Ramblings of a SAHM for helping me with the code for my button. I suck at techy stuff and she was willing to take time out of her busy, 2-children-to-raise, schedule and help me out. Thanks muchly!

* Second note - to all those non-Aussies reading my blog, we're electing a new Prime Minister next weekend. Julia Gillard is one of the candidates ( a red-headed, female candidate - oh my! ) and " Moving Forward " has been her ( rather lame ) campaign slogan...

9 comments:

Claire did the backwards scoot for a few weeks, then she finally crawled one day. She was 8 months. She went backwards all over the place though. The kitchen, the hallway, Ethan's room. Ethan started crawling at 8 months too. He started pulling himself and walking along furniture a week later. Grayson, however, has no interest in being mobile at all. He does the worm thing I wrote about in a blog, and that's it. He's 9 months old. Soon I hope.

I'm in the same situation with Piglet and she's 8 months at the end of this week. She does the backwards thing and the 'Help Mummy, I'm on my tummy floundering about like some kind of beached whale and can't do anything else' thing!

I guess we just have to carry on as we are and they'll get there in the end. And yes, we should probably be enjoying the last bit of time before we're spending the whole day fishing them out of cupboards!

Aww poor Flynn...by the sounds of it he just about has it and I bet within a week (or two) there will be no stopping him. Maybe an inticing smelly sock will motivate him..;)BTW Coop has a 16 month old bully of a nephew..so I think the whole moving thing is all about getting away from him!!Can't wait to see the first crawl..

Don't stress, he will start when he's ready. Alana did the same...she was pulling herself up on furniture and standing/jumping and letting go for months but only started crawling about 2 weeks ago. Its all down to finding that motivation to crawl. Alana's was bloody barbie dolls. She's been eyeing them off for a while and in the end she just up and crawled to them!

My son is 6 months and 1 week old he does the put his head down on the ground and move forward with his butt in the air thing. It is so funny I say he is moping my floor with his hair. :P But I would not be worried. Mine was an early sitter too and he pulls himself up on my hands and walks he has even figured out his walker as of two days ago and runs around the house now like its nothing. My doctor says he might just skip crawling or surprise me one day and get up and start go go going. (I sure hope so)

For now I am trying to enjoy the stage where he cannot yet get into my sewing stuff! :P

This is a really difficult stage for them Amy cos they're so frustrated. Flynn will get through it really soon I'm sure! The Bebito started crawling at four months (!!!!!! are there enough exclamation marks for that?) and he because of that I thought he'd start walking relatively early but he didn't. He took a few steps from 10 months but didn't really start walking properly til the week of his 1st Birthday which was a lovely gift to us. Some of the gals in my Mum's Group had little ones who didn't crawl til after 1 and who started walking at after 20 months. They all do it in their own time. Listening to the whining isn't fun in the meantime but your positive energy will be a comfort to him I'm sure.

Stop researching hahahaha. Ollie sat at 5 months but didn't crawl til about 11. My Flynn is sitting well but doesn't look remotely like he will crawl anytime soon. He will get there but it is frustrating watching them isn't it!!